


There is only one side

by filhadoboto



Series: Wishes for Season 8 [14]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen, Jon meets his sisters, jon returns to winterfell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 06:59:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18441425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/filhadoboto/pseuds/filhadoboto
Summary: Jon meets with his two sisters, but things don’t go exactly as the siblings expected.





	There is only one side

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to write this story because of some interviews I read given by the actors.
> 
> English is not my native language, sorry for grammar errors. In google translate I trust!

 

"I missed you  _so much_ , little sister!" Said Jon, holding Arya's face in his hands as he and his sisters were alone in their father's private room. He didn’t tire of looking at her, of hugging her, of seeing her smiling.

 

"I missed you too, Jon!" she said with a bright smile. "I was so afraid to never see you again. When I heard you were in Winterfell, I traveled north as fast as I could to find you."

 

"You were always in my thoughts, Arya and I always longed for the moment when our paths would cross again." He smiled and stroked her cheek. "I wanted so much that our father could see you. You were a child when I last saw you and look at you now... You've become a beautiful woman, little sister."

 

"Thank you, Jon," she said shyly.

 

"And now that you're a grown woman, I guess I cannot mess your hair any more." He ran his hand through her hair, but without messing with them and she felt her face blush slightly. "And you still have Needle!"

 

"It was taken from me once and I had to kill some people to get it back." she said without thinking.

 

Jon gaped at her for a few seconds. "Does that mean you've learned to fight with swords?"

 

"I learned  _much more_ than fighting with a sword." she said with pride and enthusiasm.

 

"You have to tell me everything you learned and all that happened to you all these years we were apart." She nodded and he hugged her once more. "It still seems like a dream to have you in my arms, Arya. I..."

 

The sound of someone clearing her throat interrupted him and made them look at the third person in the room. They both looked at their sister and her expression was cold and angry. "Can you two keep this for later? I think we have a lot more important issues to discuss now." The two reluctantly let go of each other's arms. "How could you bend the knee  _without consulting me_ ?" Sansa shot at him as if she were the mother and Jon was a stupid and inconsequential child.

 

All the joy that flooded Jon seconds earlier turned into irritation at the words of his sister. Happiness and distance had made him forget her annoying habit of disagreeing and contesting all his decisions and trying to make him look weak and foolish to others as if she were the smartest person in the Seven Kingdoms.

 

"Without consulting you? And why  _should_ I consult you before making any decision?" He stared at her, his face turned into a mask of irritation. "The only thing you have done since the North chose me as King was to complain, to oppose my decisions and to offend me."

 

"I'm sorry if I offended you when I advised you to be smarter than father and Robb." she said ironically, her eyes glittering with anger. "But you ignored everything I told you, you did the opposite of everything that I advised you. It seems that with or without my advice, you will only do what you  _want_ to do."

 

 _And how could I even think of following the advice given by someone who is unable to look beyond its own petty needs and desires? You think you can do better, but the North would have no chance to survive if you were the person in charge_ , he thought to say, but instead, Jon took a deep breath to control his urge to yell at his sister "Since you are _so smarter than me_ , Sansa, tell me, why didn’t you offer a better alternative to get Queen Daenerys to become our ally without me having to go to Dragonstone? Why didn’t you offer to be the emissary of the North and go to the Queen to persuade her to join us in the fight? Or rather, how do you think we can defend our people and defeat the army of the dead without her help?"

 

He stared at her, waiting for an answer, and she glared back at him. "I don’t know!" She shouted. "But you could have done  _anything_ that didn’t involve handing the North into the hands of the mad king's daughter."

 

There was his sister,  _again_ , criticizing and opposing his decisions, but never offering a better solution, still seeming  _unable to understand_ the size of the threat that the Night King and his army represented and still thinking he needed to ask her permission to do what, in fact, was best for everyone.

 

"Do you really think I would be so naive and stupid as to bend the knee to someone I  _don’t trust_ ? I spent a lot of time with her, living with her and the people who have followed her for years and have chosen her as a queen and listening to their stories. If there's anything I can  _guarantee_ is that she's not like her father."

 

His sister looked at him with disdain. "You  _say_ she isn’t like her father, but the news that has come to us tells us  _otherwise_ . This woman used one of her dragons to burn armies and lords who didn’t do her will, who refused to bend the knee and join her."

 

Jon rolled his eyes angrily. "As far as I remember, no one called  _you_ mad when you locked Ramsay Bolton, your husband, in the kennel and watched while his bitches devoured him alive or when you wanted to take the homes of Ned Umber and Alys Karstark and give to other people or when you thought they should be executed because of the betrayal committed by other members of their families."

 

She looked at him, offended. "My case is completely different!"

 

"Really?"

 

"Yes! Ramsay was a monster and Ned’s and Alys’s relatives were traitors, they betrayed our family! They deserved to be punished for what their family did to ours!"

 

"Randyl Tarly was  _also_ a monster. He  _abused and mistreated_ Sam for years, and if he hadn’t abdicated his title and rights and joined the Night’s Watch, his father would have killed him so that his youngest son would be his heir!" Jon took a step toward her and looked into her cold eyes. "Randyl Tarly and his son were also  _traitors_ , they betrayed Olenna Tyrell who was one of Daenerys' allies. But despite this betrayal, though Randyl stood by Cersei Lannister and helped loot and destroy Highgarden, she offered to pay their betrayal with complete forgiveness if they accepted her as the legitimate Queen of Westeros. They would keep their lands and titles if they bent their knees, but they refused. They  _chose_ death and it was what they  _received_ ."

 

"And don’t you see that this is what the lords of the North will also receive if they refuse to accept her as their queen?"

 

Jon took a deep breath, his head was starting to ache. "Would it be so hard to trust my judgment, Sansa?" he asked, but she didn’t reply. "When I met her in Dragonstone, Daenerys was fighting her own war, but the moment I could offer her proof that the Night King was a real threat, a threat to all Seven Kingdoms, she spared no effort to secure a truce in the war she was winning so she could come and help us. I thought it was fair to give her the support of the North since she was giving us the support we need to survive! Daenerys has a good heart and is a good person, she cares about the survival of our people and the survival of all who need her help. If our lords don’t trust her now, they will trust when they know her. I'm sure they'll see her for what she really is, just as I've seen her."

 

"You really are a fool if you think the North will give up our  _independence_ and accept another Targaryen as our ruler in exchange for  _only_ her help."

 

He took a deep breath and released the air slowly "Are you telling me that the lords can  _refuse_ the alliance with Daenerys simply because the independence of the North is more important than accepting the help necessary for the survival of our people?" she nodded confidently and Jon wanted to laugh "And what good is it for them to cling to the idea of the North being an independent kingdom if all will be dead before the end of winter without Daenerys’ help? Why is it so hard to understand that your  _stubbornness_ will not stop the Night King from advancing against the living, that your  _pride_ will not protect you when the dead come?" He shook his head, frustrated. "It seems like you still don’t  _understand_ that death will come to us all if we don’t unite and fight  _together_ . Contrary to what you think, Daenerys didn’t come to the North to conquer it. She would never stand idly by while her people need her, because defending people against monsters is what she  _does_ . She would be here, fighting for us,  _even_ if I hadn’t bent the knee."

 

She stared at him, her eyes half-closed with suspicion. "I know very well why you bent your knee to the Targaryen Queen. The  _real_ reason is pretty  _obvious_ to me." she said with venom in her voice.

 

He frowned. "Oh, yeah? So tell me what's  _so obvious_ , Sansa."

 

"You bent the knee just because you  _fell in love_ with her." she said in a cold accusatory tone.

 

For a moment, he just stared at her. "You really think I'm a  _fool_ , don’t you? Do you really think that I am unable to put my people above my own safety or my own happiness after all I have done to keep everyone safe? You have forgotten that I was betrayed and murdered by protecting people? Did you forget that I almost died so we could resume Winterfell? I almost died beyond the Wall to be able to capture one of the creatures to prove to everyone that the threat of the Night King  _is real_ and get allies to fight alongside us. And yet, do you  _still_ think that I am not able to fulfill  _my duty_ to  _my people_ , to the people who  _chose me to lead them_ ?" He felt the anger burn in his veins and breathed deeply before continuing "The North wasn’t the first kingdom to bend the knee. Do you think Olenna Tyrell, Yara Greyjoy and Ellaria Sand also bent the knee because they fell in love with Daenerys? They did it for the same reason I did. They bent the knee because they knew her and knew that Daenerys Targaryen is the  _best_ choice for Westeros."

 

"What I  _know_ is that the North made a  _huge mistake_ in choosing  _you_ as our King.  _I would never leave_ my kingdom in the hands of a Targaryen or anyone else." she said, as if she had ignored every word he had just said, "It's very clear to me that you let your  _dick_ decide for you, Jon. Just like Robb did and it will cost us everything!  _Everything_ !"

 

Jon looked at her, unable to believe that  _his sister_ had even been able to say something so absurd. Then, instead of continuing an argument that wouldn’t take them anywhere, he turned his back on her, placed a soft kiss on Arya's forehead, which had been watching their discussion closely, and left the room. There was still a brother he needed to see and hold and hear the voice before he had to worry about the northern lords and their endless complaints and demands.

 

"Where do you think you're going?" She screamed as he shut the door behind him.

 

Jon had given up listening to her nonsense, but there was someone else in that room who was willing to continue that conversation.

 

"Why cannot you support our brother's decisions?" Said Arya and her sister glared at her.

 

" _Half brother_ ! And why cannot you stay by my side instead of standing by your  _dear_ Jon?"

 

"There's only  _one side_ , Sansa.  _Only one_ . And it seems like either you cannot or you refuse to see it."

 

" _She_ must be  _manipulating_ Jon and I don’t want the lords to think our family is betraying they because of the wrong decisions that Jon insists on taking. Cannot you see I'm just defending the interests of the North?"

 

"No,  _you're not_ ." Arya said quietly. "You don’t care what the lords will think of our family or how they will react to the presence of the Queen. What worries you is what  _your position_ will be in all this. You know that when Jon bent the knee and recognized Daenerys Targaryen as the legitimate Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, he ended up with all  _your_ chances and hopes to one day be queen in the North or anywhere else." 

 

Annoyed, the red-haired girl looked at the younger girl from head to toe. "I did a lot to get control of things around here and Jon simply decided to give everything I fought for  _to her_ . He couldn’t make such a decision without consulting me!  _I was_ the Stark in Winterfell and  _I am the Lady of Winterfell_ !"

 

"You were once a Lannister and you're a Bolton now,  _have you forgotten_ ? You married Ramsay Bolton and became the Lady of the Dreadfort and you inherited the Boltons' home after you executed your husband. You're just the Lady of Winterfell because no one knew Bran and I were alive. By right, Bran is the Lord of Winterfell and if he dies or gives up his right, Winterfell passes to me."

 

Arya's sister looked at her indignantly "You have no idea what I went through to get where I am, Arya. I was forced to marry Tyrion Lannister and then Ramsay Bolton, and if it wasn’t for the Knights of the Valley,  _I_ wouldn’t have been able to get Winterfell out of his hands."

 

"You may have been forced to marry the Lannister. But you  _chose_ to marry the Bolton. Littlefinger didn’t  _make_ you marry, he gave you that choice and you chose to marry the son of the man who helped orchestrate the murder of our family and our banners and who stuck a knife into Robb's heart. You married the man who killed Rickon and showed all over the North that  _for you_ , one of Ned Stark’s  _daughters_ , it was okay to deliver the North and Winterfell into the hands of those who betrayed their King and the Starks." Her sister tried to speak, but Arya continued, "And after all this do you judge our brother for doing what was best for  _our survival_ ?"

 

"I did everything I did to be able to survive and you don’t know the lords as I know them. I know they'll think the same as me, that she is manipulating him and that he is thinking with his dick! They will see that Jon is in love with her and that he only bent his knee because of it."

 

Arya looked at her sister and it hurt to see that even after everything they had suffered, her sister was still unable to put herself in someone else's shoes and that she was still unable to admit her guilt and that she kept thinking that everything should be the way she wanted it and not how it was best for everyone. When would she understand that her actions would always have a consequence? How much more would she have to suffer to stop being the petty, selfish girl she'd always been? Littlefinger's death and the end of his whispers didn’t help her sister to see that Bran, Jon and she were her  _family_ , her  _pack_ and  _not_ enemies to be fought.

 

"And what's the problem if he's in love with her? He got the support we needed to fight for our survival. Whether or not he is in love with her has no relevance at the moment!"

 

"He was chosen as King in the North. Of course this has enormous relevance!"

 

"Do you think just because he was chosen as King he has no right to fall in love?"

 

"I  _think_ he has no right to put the North at her feet because of it."

 

"For someone who has married so many times, you quickly forgot that marriages can be the best way to seal an alliance. If Queen Daenerys marries our brother,  _the King whom the North has chosen_ , it will be a very advantageous arrangement for both parties if we survive this war."

 

"The lords will not accept such a thing." snapped the other girl scornfully.

 

"Only if they are as  _blind_ and  _stupid_ as you are." Arya countered. "She brought all her army and her dragons to defend us and gave us a huge amount of dragonglass. You heard what Jon said. She didn’t have to do this, but she chose to help us. She chose to protect the Seven Kingdoms because that is the duty of a  _true Queen_ . But of course you couldn’t have learned this by growing up with Cersei and Littlefinger and you yourself have never been able to put yourself in the shoes of others." Her sister's eyes were filled with anger. "You may not like what Jon did, but he did everything he did thinking about our survival. I trust our brother and his judgment and when we win this war against the dead, we are all going to owe our lives to Jon and this woman whom everyone judges without first giving her a chance to show who she is. I hope you don’t try to put the lords against the Queen, just as you have already tried to put them against Jon." She walked up to stand a step away from the other girl's body, her hand resting on Needle's knob. "Don’t forget of what I am able to do with those who hurt the people I love."

 

Arya smiled suggestively at her sister and left the room. It wasn’t every day that they had a Targaryen Queen as guest and dragons flying over Winterfell.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Have I already told you how much I love Jon and Arya? Because I, in fact, love them so much.
> 
> Thanks for reading it!


End file.
